It’s been seven years since his divorce, yet middle-aged John (John C. Reilly) is still single and suffering terrible pangs of loneliness and lack of self-esteem. “I’m like Shrek,” he says.

    Urged by his ex-wife/best friend (Catherine Keener), forlorn John reluctantly agrees to join her and her fiancé (Matt Walsh) at a party. That’s where he meets high-spirited, compassionate Molly (Marisa Tomei), who is attracted to his sweetness and honesty. They click and a romance begins. But John’s disturbed that she insists on going home at the end of the evening, refusing to stay until morning. So, late one night, he follows Molly and eventually discovers that she has been hiding the fact that she lives with grown son Cyrus (Jonah Hill).

    It becomes rapidly obvious that Molly has infantilized 21-year-old Cyrus by home-schooling him and allowing him to shirk all responsibility by focusing on his New Age music. To call their unconventional relationship bizarre is an understatement. Undaunted, John tries to be understanding and befriend Cyrus, who is pathologically protective of his relationship with his mother. Passive-aggressive subterfuges ensue, as John does his best to create a "family" while duplicitous Cyrus seems equally determined not to cooperate.

    In this weirdly dark, slow-paced Los Angeles-based comedy,  filmmaking siblings Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass delve superficially into the Oedipal relationship by setting up some ominous rivalry situations and then retreating into a third-act letdown. This is the first time that the iconoclastic brothers have worked within the studio system. Their previous features, “The Puffy Chair” and “Baghead,” part of the so-called mumblecore movement, attracted film festival aficionados. So, they obviously continue their penchant for low-budget, original, quirky concepts, encouraging their actors to improvise awkward banter. Cast as the perpetual loser,  Reilly (“Step Brothers”) acquits himself admirably, as does (“Get Him to the Greek”). However, the lovely Tomei (“The Wrestler”) struggles with her underdeveloped part.

    On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Cyrus” is an engaging, emotionally edgy 6. Families don’t come more dysfunctional than this one.